David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 922 (2021-10-09)

Notes (S921)

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Notes (S923)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result  - Night Summary Plot  - Session Event Log
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (1),  Minor Issues (6),  Small Defects (3),  Continuous Improvement (4)
	Images from 2021-10-09 >>          [ Local Files >> ]

Session Aims & Highlights (2021-10-09)

Main aims

1. Targets. Acquire images of a selection of variable stars, nearby stars, comets & deep sky targets as allowed by time & conditions.
2. AstroMain/AstroPlan. TestTest updated TP2 linkage between AstroMain & AstroAllSky with SkyAduRate and DiffStats/Photometric Condition Indicator

Equipment & Software

• 12" LX200 and ST-10XME
• 80mm APO and ZWO ASI 178MC
• CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft5, PHD2 2.6.10,  DeviceHub 6.5.1.4,  MeadeGeneric 1.3.1.361, UPB 1.5, ASCOM 6.5 SP1
• Pegasus UPB & Motor Focus, TCF-S
• SharpCap 3.2, PHD2  2.6.10
   
• AstroMain 3.43.4,  AstroPlan 1.24.4  AstroShCap 1.3.2, AstroGuard 1.6.2,  AstroVOE 1.8,  AstroSN 1.6,  AstroProtect 1.6
  (AstroWeather 1.13, AstroAllSky 3.12, AstroObsCam 1.5.7)

Highlights

• Targets.  Images from a total of x targets were acquired through the session.   Sky clear and dark (no moon)
•   AstroMain/AstroPlan.  .

Lowlights

•   AstroMain. Although the session was intended to be a live test of some significant code changes in AstroMain 3.43.4 it was disappointing that the session was badly affected by a bug in the new code which resulted in a 60s delay before each and every image frame, which due to programmed time slots led to most of the night's targets being 50% complete.

Notes:

Summary Plots & Logs

Observing Plan

Observing Result

Dome & Scope Slewing Performance

Slew/Centering Performance

Guiding Performance

Sky Conditions (Locate Frames)

Night Sky Summary Plot Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs)

Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast

Session Event Log

Time     Event Detail 23:47:22 Session Monitoring AutoStart monitoring for Live Session opportunity between 23:47 & 05:28 23:47:26 Session AutoStarting Session autostarting (23:47) 23:48:09   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -20°C) 23:48:11 Session Created Live Session Created (2021-10-09 S00922, ImageSaveNum: 922001) 23:48:13   Scope Switched On Telescope Power has been switched on via UPB Powerbox. 23:49:54   Services Started Observatory Services started 23:50:02 Observatory (Auto) Observatory placed in Fully-Automated Mode 23:50:06 Session Pending Session pending (2021-10-09) 23:50:08 Session Initiating Session initiating (2021-10-09) 23:50:11   Plan Requested Observing Plan requested from AstroPlan (1.24.4) 23:51:46   Plan Loaded Observing Plan loaded to queue (, Plan ID: 670) 23:51:58   Camera1 Connected SBIG Camera Connected (set point -15°C) 23:52:03   Telescope Connected Telescope Connected (TheSky6) 23:52:27 Session Equilibration Session ready for dome & camera equilibration 23:53:12   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 23:53:14 Session Running Session running 23:53:17   Queue Started Observing Queue started (22 targets selected) 23:53:19     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 0, HIP 106) 23:55:31       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 23:58:39       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1, wide) 00:00:52       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 1) 00:00:56       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 00:03:23       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 2, wide) 00:05:19       Focusing Failed Foc2 focusing failed (failed QC check - Range) 00:05:23     Target Completed Target completed (Focus Field 0, HIP 106) 00:05:25     Target Started (1/22) Target started (1/22, Nova Cas 2021) 00:09:40       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:11:16       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 3) 00:17:09   SoftSuspend Called Soft Suspend is called due to Deteriorating Conditions (too few stars) 00:17:39 Critical Cloud Alert Critical Cloud Alert (Obs.Manager will close the Shutter) 00:17:41   HardSuspend Called Hard Suspend is called due to Critical Conditions (cloud) 00:18:22     Target Aborted (1/22) Target aborted (1/22, Nova Cas 2021) due to cloud 00:18:24   Queue Paused Queue paused for Session Suspension 00:18:27 Session Suspended Session suspended 00:19:14   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 00:20:42     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (1/22, Nova Cas 2021) due to cloud 00:40:04     Target Cancelled Target cancelled (2/22, M31 w/AT2021zdh) due to cloud 00:45:12 Session Resuming Session resuming 00:45:57   Dome Opened Dome opened (opening time 45s) 00:45:59 Session Running Session running 00:46:01   Queue Resumed Observing Queue resumed 00:46:03     Target Started (NrZen) Target started (Focus Field 1, HIP 4911) 00:47:52       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 00:49:45       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 4) 00:49:48       Focusing Started-Foc2 Foc2 Focusing Started (Secondary Scope, using ShCap) 00:51:55       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5, wide) 00:53:35       Focusing Completed Foc2 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 5) 00:53:51     Target Completed Target completed (Focus Field 1, HIP 4911) 00:53:53     Target Missed (3/22) Target's time slot was missed (3/22, GCVS RX And) 00:53:57     Target Started (4/22) Target started (4/22, NGC 1166 w/SN2021zby) 00:58:40       Focusing Skipped Foc1 focusing skipped - star is too dim (TCF-S) 01:17:18     Target Completed Target partially completed (4/22, NGC 1166 w/SN2021zby) 01:17:20     Target Started (5/22) Target started (5/22, GCVS HH And) 01:20:22       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 01:22:34       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 6) 01:31:27     Target Completed Target completed (5/22, GCVS HH And) 01:31:29     Target Started (6/22) Target started (6/22, NGC 940 w/SN2021vtl) 01:50:08     Target Completed Target partially completed (6/22, NGC 940 w/SN2021vtl) 01:50:10     Target Started (7/22) Target started (7/22, NGC 6184 w/SN2021wkv) 02:11:26     Target Completed Target partially completed (7/22, NGC 6184 w/SN2021wkv) 02:11:28     Target Started (8/22) Target started (8/22, GCVS BL Lac) 02:21:13     Target Completed Target partially completed (8/22, GCVS BL Lac) 02:21:15     Target Started (9/22) Target started (9/22, NGC 9 w/SN2021zju) 02:24:22       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:26:08       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 7) 02:41:17     Target Completed Target partially completed (9/22, NGC 9 w/SN2021zju) 02:41:19     Target Started (10/22) Target started (10/22, GCVS U And) 02:44:20       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 02:46:28       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 8) 03:03:00     Target Completed Target partially completed (10/22, GCVS U And) 03:03:02     Target Started (11/22) Target started (11/22, UGC 2605 w/SN2021wvw) 03:19:37     Target Completed Target partially completed (11/22, UGC 2605 w/SN2021wvw) 03:19:39     Target Started (12/22) Target started (12/22, Vega) 03:34:11     Target Completed Target completed (12/22, Vega) 03:34:13     Target Missed (13/22) Target's time slot was missed (13/22, GCVS RR Lyr) 03:34:15     Target Started (14/22) Target started (14/22, Vega) 03:46:22     Target Completed Target completed (14/22, Vega) 03:46:24     Target Started (15/22) Target started (15/22, AT2021zkf) 04:04:26     Target Completed Target partially completed (15/22, AT2021zkf) 04:04:28     Target Started (16/22) Target started (16/22, WDS GRB 34) 04:08:35       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:10:46       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 9) 04:19:37     Target Completed Target completed (16/22, WDS GRB 34) 04:19:39     Target Started (17/22) Target started (17/22, M33 w/AT2021wcf) 04:36:28     Target Completed Target partially completed (17/22, M33 w/AT2021wcf) 04:36:30     Target Started (18/22) Target started (18/22, Nova Per 2020) 04:50:13     Target Completed Target partially completed (18/22, Nova Per 2020) 04:50:16     Target Started (19/22) Target started (19/22, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) 04:53:18       Focusing Started-Foc1 Foc1 Focusing Started (TCF-S) 04:55:17       Focusing Completed Foc1 AutoFocus Completed (Profile No 10) 05:17:01     Target Completed Target partially completed (19/22, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) 05:17:03     Target Started (20/22) Target started (20/22, C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)) 05:30:20     Target Completed Target partially completed (20/22, C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)) 05:30:22     Target Started (21/22) Target started (21/22, AT2021aagc) 05:47:29     Target Completed Target partially completed (21/22, AT2021aagc) 05:47:31     Target Started (22/22) Target started (22/22, Scholz's Star) 06:14:50     Target Completed Target completed (22/22, Scholz's Star) 06:14:53   Queue Completed Job Queue completed 06:14:56 Session Closing Session closing 06:15:52   Dome Closed Dome closed (closing time 50s) 06:16:36   Dome Parked Dome parked (parking time 37s), Az: 90.0 deg 06:17:45   Telescope Parked Telescope parked (parking time 67s) 06:18:00   Telescope State Scope parked Turn scope off. (Handbox) 06:18:20   Telescope Switched Off Telescope Power has been switched off via UPB Switch. 06:19:09   Services Stopped Night Services stopped 06:19:11 Session Housekeeping Housekeeping Started (Cleanup FITS, Create Fits Summary, Transfer Files) 06:19:22 Session Finished Session Finished

Session Alerts

Time     Alert Detail -- No Alerts                --

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Operational Issues (2021-10-09, S922)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (1)
• Minor Issues (6)
• Small Defects (3)
• Continuous Improvement (4)

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Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• Majority of targets were only partially completed with cancellation of around 50% of expected imaging frames. New autoguiding control code was being tried out during this first test of AstroMain 3.43.4 and it is probably that it has introduced an issue that is inserted inappropriate delays between frames, which means that target can't complete required number of imaging frames within its alloted time slot.  Investigating  Target 5/22 (GCVS HH And) which involved 7 x 5s R frames,  ie 35s of exposure it could be seen that the actual gross imaging time was 500s (8.4 minutes) equivalent to an average 71s per frame. (5s exposure,  6s download & processing and 60s waiting
  Report messages give nothing away apart from the 8.4 min duration.  Log message shows an exception (index out of range) in GuidingMonitor loop for each frame followed by sequence of 'Waiting for Guider'  message every 0.2s until the wait loop times out after 60s.  So an extra 60s was being added to every frame taken during the session, which explain thelarge number of incompleted targets.   The 'Index out of range' exception occurs once per image frame and it occurs within 10ms of Starting GuidingStats (Frame), and therefore is almost certainly related to new code in the StartGuidingStatsImage section of the GuidingMonitor loop. Once at The "Waiting for Guider' messages kick in after 4s of waiting when it is clear that a Wait on Guider situation is clearly present.  Unless the bWaitingForResettling flag is set to true , the bReadyForImage flag is automatically set to True by the end of the StartGuidingStatsImage section of the Guiding Monitor loop.   If not the bReadyForImage flag is set to True at a future point when bWaitingForResettling flag is set to false. Problem investigated and two bugs (Index out of range exception and multiple Waiting for Guider messages) found and fixed.  These are detailed under Minor issue below).  Of the two bugs the exception was the most serious and caused code execution to skip over the code which would have Set bReadyForImage=True.     As well as fixing the exception causing bug present in RecentDecPoints.ReviewRecentPoints() routine, extra code has been added to separately set Set bReadyForImage=True if bWaitingForResettling is False (as this code would have offered an 'exit route' and prevented the 60s holdups).
 Fixed 2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)

Minor Issues

• Foc2 autofocusing failed for Near Zenith Focus Field (Profile 2). Foc2 autofocusing of TS80+178MC telescope system selected an inappropriate focus position during wide search focusing and prevented standard focusing from locking onto the correct focus.  Wide focusing uses the lowest FWHM point, but this method can sometime faii. Focusing using weighted average of Max Pixel values would have secured a better focus position.  Problem was spotted and resolved in-session by manually inputting an estimated best offset, which was refined by Job executor when it refocussed on near zenith focus field following a short session suspension.  Foc2 Focusing (Wide Search) now uses Best Focus based on MaxPixel weighted FWHM.   Max Pixel data is also drawn on Focus Profile.
   Fixed 2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• Foc2 autofocusing gave slightly unexpected result during second refocusing attempt. After a short session suspension the TS80 secondary scope was refocused using the wide search followed by standard search.   Wide Focus gave a reasonable result, with best focus (based on lowest FWHM) at 8121 and an alternate focus close by at 8090 (based on quadratic curve fit). During following standard search, quadratic curve fit was rejected and best focus was selected at 8061 (based on average of 3 methods (MidPoint, P50 & Peak).   This was quite a bit lower than expected based on the wide search result.  Investigating show that the best focus might actually have been closer to the last two points in the profile at 8026 & 7976 which had the lowest FWHM values (5.21" & 5.79") and the highest max pixel values  (14532 & 13592). Looking back at wide search the point at 8021 had the 2nd highest FWHM value (5.63") and the highest max pixel (28512).    Again the Wide Focus result could probably benefit from be calculated on weighted Max pixel value, or by weighting FWHM values by Max Pixel value.  Foc2 Focusing (Wide Search) now uses Best Focus based on MaxPixel weighted FWHM.   Max Pixel data is also drawn on Focus Profile.
   Fixed 2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• RA guiding has deteriorated in last two sessions (RA aggressiveness noted to be only 0.70 rather than its earlier higher value).  RA RMS is too high in recent one or two session and it seems that the residual RA periodic error isn't been corrected quick enough with the current RA Aggressiveness of 0.70.  Setting was higher at some earlier point and it isn't clear why it seems to have become 'reset' to a lower value.  Investigating shows that the previous 'tried & tested' aggressiveness settings of 125% (RA) and 87% (Dec) were reset to 70% (RA) & 70% (Dec) between Guide Run 11 (GCSV RR Lyr) and Guide Run 12 (M31) in session S920 on 2021-10-03.  This corresponds to an incident during the intervening (unguided) target 'Vega' where an incorrect PHD2 Profile was selected for taking a Cam2 Reference frame. This was due to a bug in new code which has subsequently been corrected. 
   Fixed 2021-10-10 (Observatory, PHD2)
   
• The Guiding Charts suggest that Filter and/or Temperature related changes in Focuser position are occuring during Image Frames rather than at start of Image Frame.  This is an arfefact of the issue whereby job executor is being held up for 60s at the start of each frame.  Issue understood/explained and can be closed. .
   Issue explained and can be closed  2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• The polar plot on some Guiding Charts shows two locations for the target & two labels which overpost each other. This seems to be a new problem and might be a sideeffect of new autoguiding control code.  6 out of 17 guide runs were affected with the problem ( NGC 1166 (run 2), NGC 940 (run 4), 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (run 14), C/2019 L3 Atlas (run 15),  AT2021aagc (run 16), Scholz's Star (run 17). This compares with 0 out 24 guide runs in the previous S921 session.  The point and label are drawn by the GuidingChart.AddPositionData() routine. This is called when GuideMonitor is flagged to a start a new target using StartGuidingStatsTarget= True (GuidingChart.AddPositionData(GuideID, ScopeAz, ScopeAlt, vcNull) and again when  GuideMonitor is flagged to end the target using bStopTargetGuiding= True (GuidingChart.AddPositionData(GuideID, ScopeAz, ScopeAlt, GuidingChart.AvRMS).   It can be asserted that ScopeAz, ScopeAlt values is changing between when the target point is first drawn and when it is drawn the second time.  This is consistent with the addition of new code in AstroMain 3.43.4 which now updates ScopeAz/ScopeAlt with latest telescopes position during guiding in order to determine if the target has crossed the meridian or not and needs to change the Dec Guide Mode.  Fixed by saving the initial ScopeAz/ScopeAlt in special protected variables InitialScopeAz/InitialScopeAlt.
   Fixed 2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• Target  19/22 (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) wasn't listed in the Report File's hyperlinked list of targets.  Although 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was successfully retrieved from the targets database ast start of session and later executed normally, the target wasn't listed in the table of targets that is written to the report file.  It is hypothesized that this was a problem with the target's name in someway possibly the "/"  slash  symbol ?   Bug eventually found and fixed (the problem wasn't due to "/" symbol which is removed ok when creating bookmark, but due to knock on consequence of long target name which was forcing the following call  LAlign2("",-1)  which was producing exception as the requested return length was negative. This problem is now caught )
   Fixed 2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)

Small Defects

• 'Setting Dec GuideMode' reporting contains a misplaced bracket which should be removed.  "Set Dec Mode    Ok   South Set) "
   Fixed 2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• The Logfile contains the exception  "Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection." in GuidingMonitor Loop.  Bug found and fixed (Exception is carried over from RecentDecPoints.ReviewRecentPoints() routine due (trying to access Points List/Collection with i = 1 to Points.Count rather than i = 0 to Points.Count-1).  The bug repeated for each image frame caused a major issue for the session (see Major Issue above)
   Fixed 2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• The Logfile contains multiple "Waiting for Guider to set bReadyForImage=True" messages whilst job executor is waiting for guider to be ready for continuation of image frame acquisition. Messages are output every 0.2s once wait loop (WaitForGuiderToBeReadyForImage() ) has waited more than 4s.  This seems to be a new problem and might be a side-effect of new autoguiding control code. Bug found and fixed.
   Fixed 2021-10-10 (AstroMain 3.43.5)

Continuous Improvement

• Query.  AstroMain 3.43.4 contains new code for setting the temperature range used in the Best Focus Plot.  Whilst it has prevented the issue which caused a problem with temperatures going below the plots selected in previous session (S921, 2021-10-04), the range selected in session S922 appears too 'aggressive'.   Forecast data from DarkSky.Net indicated a forecast High/Low Temperature change of 0.0° / - 3.4° with minimum session temperature of 8.8°C.   With starting Tube Temperature of 11.6°C (rounds to 12), and the forecast high/low changes there should have been some offset (space) at top of temperature range yet an offset of 0 was selected which produce a temperature range of 12 to 2 °C when it was expected that offset of 2 would have been selected giving a chart range 14 to 4°C.  Offset of 0 is consistent with intended if Low TempChnage was more than -8.   Bug identified and fix (comparison operations were the wrong way around  such that 'if TempChangeLow > -8' had been used instead of the correct code 'if TempChangeLow < -8'). Minimum ambient temperature turned out to be 6°C with actual High/Low Temperature change of 0.0° / - 4.6°.
   Fixed 2021-10-10  (Session, AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• Add Max Pixel data points to Focus Profile graph. Max Pixel points have now been added to Focus Profile Graph and legend now alos includes the largest MaxPixel value. Data points are plotted as small lime coloured circles, and data is plotted in lower half of graph using pseudo scaling such that MaxPixel values are divided by LargestMaxValue and scaled to 50% of graph height. Points 'jump' downwards as data is added to graph until the LargestMaxPixel value has been passed.     
   Done 2021-10-10  (Session, AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• Extend Post Session Admin so that it also copies new "_ROT" subfolder to the Session's _Raw folder.   The _ROT folder is a new subfolder for holding rotated and cropped spectra images produced during a live session. This involves extend PerformPostSessionAdmin() routine to with a new section for handling/copying the _ROT folder.
   Done 2021-10-10  (Session, AstroMain 3.43.5)
   
• Add Focus Profile ID and Guide ID to TargetInfo Chart.  Ideally there would be a one-one correspondance between Target No (Seq No) and Profile ID and Guide ID, but this doesn't yet exist, at the moment this variables are completely independant. In the meantime and to aid manual cross-referencing it would be handy if Target Charts referenced the Profile ID and Guide ID when wrting Focusing and Guiding results. Implemented in AstroMain 3.43.5.
   Done 2021-10-10  (Session, AstroMain 3.43.5)

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